Stuart Sherman & Swanson

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I was diagnosed with ALS this past June of 2013. It has been a challenging journey for me and my loving family dealing with this every moment of every day. ALS is a degenerative Motor Neuron Disease. At this point, I have begun to walk with a walker. I keep active, go to work every day, and am driving. As the disease progresses, these activities will become more challenging.

Not long after hearing about the work done at NEADS and going through an interview, they provided a beautiful yellow lab named Swanson in March of 2014. She has been sucha blessing. Aside from performing tasks that help get me through the day (fetching, retrieving, opening doors, etc), she has brought a sense of joy and peace to our family which was absent for a while. I am now taking care of Swanson so she can take care of me.

Most impressive was the care that NEADS took to find just the right dog and train her for my needs. Swanson is such a gentle dog and we bonded immediately. Beside her basic training, Swanson was trained to walk slowly up the stairs, one step at a time, never going ahead of me, and to retrieve my walker among many other tasks.

Swanson is now part of Team Sherman as a caregiver, to help us win the battle of ALS and allow me to live a full and productive life. Dealing with ALS is not only a physical challenge, but is emotionally trying as well. Swanson’s devotion to me and our entire Team Sherman, brings support and comfort physically and emotionally.

Our family would love to make NEADS a yearly fundraising project even after our goal is met. Thank you for helping Team Sherman meet and exceed our $9,500 fundraising goal so others can benefit from the extraordinary work done at NEADS.